In Another Time
by Queen of the Beasts
Summary: After being in sleep for who knows how long, John Reid has finally woken up and struggles to adapt to the Avengers, the 21st century and its surroundings. Not to mention the coming threat that even he is not prepared for. A bit AU, set after CA:TWS
1. Showdown In Texas

**So, I decided to have my heart set on a semi-horror fic. Not the gross kind like you see where someone gets their heads torn off. *shudders at** _The Haunting of Hill House_ *** But a light-hearten one at hand with supernatural themes in it. I haven't had written a Lone Ranger story at hand, so I need to know if he's going OOC or not. Thank you.**

1\. Showdown in Texas

New York City was probably one of the noisiest places you've ever been to. It seemed that the city never sleeps. Lights flashed everywhere, casinos and businesses were buzzing, and people were partying, hanging out, or doing their jobs. It was one of the few major cities in the world that attracts so many people who wanted to start a new life, especially young adults and teenagers. But when there were a lot of businesses, people, and activity all in a huge area, there was a drawback. Crime was very popular in the city, even with all the police and high-tech security around.

It was evening by the time they decided to head back to Stark Towers, even though it was now known as the Avengers Tower. Tony ranted continually, and Bruce was paying more attention to him than Pepper would have. Rhodey sat in the front, irritating him more by smiling and nodding his head. Surprisingly, Happy was the first to notice that a street was blocked off by a series of signs and officers.

The building before them was not tall enough to be a skyscraper but certainly more modern than the tower itself. There was about twenty-two floors made entirely out of brick and marble. There was now a gaping hole around one of the upper floors where several windows had been shattered and were now lying on the street in a pile of shards.

"What's going on?" Bruce wondered when Happy stopped.

"Let's go check it out," Tony suggested.

"That's none of our business," Pepper said.

"Perhaps it is." Rhodey's dark eyes narrowed. "Look."

He pointed at one of the men standing closest to them across the divide. The familiar insignia on the left breast of his uniform stood out as he was a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. They exchanged a look and Happy parked so they would get out and approach the man. The person noticed them and whispered to the man next to him that was wearing a black coat. He turned around to reveal none other than the former director Nick Fury, although he was wearing shades instead of his iconic eyepatch.

Tony slipped under the police tape as they regarded each other. "What's going on here?" he asked.

"You tell me." Nick gestured to a small group. "Those workers and everyone else claimed that some dragon broke into the tech industry, stole some highly advanced equipment, and then disappeared."

Rhodey gaped at him. "Dragon?"

"It was the best estimation we got," Nick explained.

"That sounds ominious," Happy commented.

Pepper frowned at the building. "What made them think that?"

"It jumped from the rooftop and flew southwest from here. Unfortunately people didn't get a good look at it, but it wasn't hard to miss."

"So, what? We're dealing with maybe a mutant that looks like a dragon?" Bruce guessed.

"All I know so far is that it was something with skin that can't be penetrated. And from an angle it didn't look like any dragon I've seen. To me, it looked like that freak from hell in that new Godzilla movie."

"I thought you said you didn't get a good look at it," Happy said.

"Not this time," Nick replied, "but I bet it's the same one that broke into Prison 42 last night, though I have no idea what for. Maybe you want to help us find it before it heads for something else that's important?"

Bruce frowned. "Prison 42?"

"Our top secret prison for the most dangerous criminals on Earth," Nick explained.

Another officer came up and whispered something in Nick's ear. The man excused himself to go investigate.

"Do you think this is Loki's work?" Bruce asked

"Oh, come on, Loki doesn't know _what_ he was doing with his arrogance," Tony retorted. "He probably won't even know that until we catch up."

"What if you could?" Happy asked.

Tony glanced at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if Loki is behind this, there must be a connection between the two," Pepper pointed out.

"The only way he would do that is if he had his staff, which he does not have and we do," Tony deadpanned.

Bruce's cellphone vibrated in his pant pocket. He fished it out and found a text. His eyes darkened again. "Maybe so," he said. "But Clint and Natasha both spotted it in the Sabine."

Tony stared at him. "And that's where?"

"Texas," Happy answered.

"You need to go," Pepper told him.

"I promised..."

Pepper stopped him with a peck on the cheek. "You have homework."

Tony sighed. "I'll see you guys later."

"See _us_ later?" Rhodey retorted. "I'm going with you. I'm not letting you get yourself killed alone like the last time, remember."

"Guys?"

Everyone looked at Bruce.

"Count me in," Bruce said.

"Are you sure?" Rhodey asked.

"Not exactly. But if we're dealing with something that might, might not breathe fire, then you're going to need all the help you can get."

* * *

In the forest of the Sabine in Texas, two of Fury's former assassins were climbing over the rocky edges on a climb to get closer to their detination. Someone had recently reported the sighting of the mysterious beast and they had decided to go check it out. Their hands were becoming cracked from the chalky surface of the rocks.

"So, we're suppose to be looking for a dragon?" Clint asked.

"That's what I heard," Natasha said.

"Guess we're gonna need to call Saint George if Fury's gone mythical for a change," Clint joked.

"It's not funny," Natasha hissed.

Clint laughed quietly as they continued on.

 _Thump._

Natasha gasped, causing herself to crouch even lower.

 _Thump._

Clint crouched lower and continued to crawl. "I'm calling backup," he whispered.

 _Thump._

Natasha swallowed, her hands gripping tightly to the rocks.

 _Thump._

The footsteps stopped for a moment. Both assassins froze when they looked up.

The creature's body was slick, black and red. The shape of its head was loosely familiar to a birds, and it had triangular jaws. It also had two pairs of forelimbs that were modified into its wings. It had red eyes and two hind legs with a long tail. Small spikes traveled down its back.

"Uh-oh," Clint gulped.

The creature disappeared back into its cave.

Natasha sighed in relief, then continued until they reached the ledge. Natasha pulled herself and then helped up Clint. He stood up and they glanced down at the cave. Clint gave out a long whistle.

"Well, that is one long tunnel," he commented.

Natasha was about to put her inputs on it, but stopped when the sound of rockets forced their gaze upwards as the Iron Man and War Machine were landing behind them. They were caught off guard when a sudden force smashed nearby. The Hulk stood up and shook himself off.

"Hulk here," he said.

Clint and Natasha gaped at him before looking at Tony.

"It was either him included or none of us," Rhodey explained from somewhere inside the helmet.

"What brings you here?" Natasha questioned.

"Nick and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D—or what's left of them—were in the city," Tony answered, folding his arms, "claiming this dragon was stealing highly advanced equipment and released someone from Prison 42."

"Ah! Why couldn't it steal from the Attica Correctional Facility?" Clint asked.

"Good question," Tony stated. "I was hoping maybe you two would know."

"Less talking, more smashing," Hulk said, slamming his right fist into the left palm of his hand.

"I'm in," Rhodey piped up after a while.

"If you want your dragon, it's down there," Natasha said, pointing down the dark.

"Ooo-kay, who want's to go down the creepy tunnel first?" Tony asked.

"I will," Hulk said as he started forward.

"Well, we have a winner," Rhodey joked before they followed the behemoth.

They tried to soundlessly creep down the tunnel, hoping no one would make any sound that could catch its attention. The entire place had a musty smell, and they could hear droplets of water hitting into small pools of water from the stalactites hanging up from the cavern ceiling. It was not long before they reached a large room and saw what laid in it.

The carvern was a vast room with more stalactites and stalagmites growing and scattered at the edges. There was still that same musty smell that spread through the air, mist swirling over the water. A trail led to the other side of the grotto, where there were some bizarre paintings of past life and wild animals. The same beast Clint and Natasha saw was on the wall as well. There was an eerie glow coming from the ceiling, giving off light for them to see.

"This is awesome," Tony said.

"So, what do we do now?" Rhodey asked.

"I say we smash it," Hulk suggested.

"Nice plan," Clint teased. "How long did it take for you to come up with that?"

"I can smash _you_ _too_ ," Hulk snarled.

"Let's go boys," Natasha said as she started forward.

"Well, they do say ladies first," Clint said before they started down with her.

The path was narrow. Each step made small ripples in the pools. The small fish that swam in the water swam away. No matter how far they went, they always had the feeling someone was watching them.

"Hey, Tony? Doesn't this look familiar?" Rhodey asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Doesn't it feel like you've seen this somewhere before?"

"Um, last time I checked, I never did."

"I know I saw this somewhere before. I just can't put my finger on it."

"Any word from the others?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah, Thor's on his way," Clint answered. "I still can't get a hold of Steve and this buddy of his."

Hulk suddenly stopped in his tracks. Both iron warriors nearly bumped into him.

"Um, are we gonna get a move on or what?" Tony asked.

"There's some kind of energy radiating from across," Hulk said.

"What?" Clint fished out a device from his pocket and turned it on. "Huh, what do you know. Hulk's right."

"Ooh, goody," Tony said as he rubbed his hands together. "This should be fun."

"That's what you said last time before Natasha locked us both up in a closet with that German shorthaired pointer," Rhodey reminded.

"He was friendly," Natasha said.

"He was horny!" Rhodey shot back.

Clint walked up ahead, ignoring the bickering between the trio. The Hulk was right behind him as he waved the device around, trying to pinpoint where the source could be. He kept going when a spot he searched at was clear, and would sometimes turn to the Hulk for help. He almost gave up with the detector gave off an analogical sound.

"Guys, we found something," Clint called out, catching their attention. All three of them ran over to the area. When they looked it over, there wasn't a sign of anything strange in the section.

"You guys wanna start searching?" Tony offered.

"What's that noise?" Rhodey looked behind him. They turned to the direction to where the noise came from. A thunderclap resounded off of the walls. In a nick of time, Thor came flying in and landing in front of them.

"Well, look who finally showed up," Clint said.

"What, did you stop for drive-through?" Tony questioned.

"There was some research going on in London when I received the call," Thor explained. "I came as quick as I could."

"Wait. Did you say London?" Rhodey asked. "How the heck did you get all the way here—"

"We have a mission here," Natasha reminded them.

"But we're at a dead end," Rhodey said.

"Why am I not surprise?" Tony grumbled.

"I have enough!" Hulk stated. He drew a fist back to punch the wall, but Clint grabbed it in time.

"No, wait," the archer hissed. "We don't want to catch attention from that thing."

"What thing?" Thor asked.

"Um, Fury mentioned something about a dragon," Rhodey explained.

"Really?" Clint snorted. "Didn't look like one when we saw it."

"Ooh, what did it look like?" Tony asked. When they glared at him he quickly asked, "I mean, so what do we do now? And I don't think smashing is a good idea." The statement made Hulk pout.

"If there's something here hiding in plain sight, it must be precious to it," Natasha stated, staring up at he painting. "I suggest two of us stay here and investigate while we draw the creature outside."

"Only if we knew what it looked like."

Natasha groaned and pointed at the creature's signature on the wall. "That thing."

"Can we blow it up?"

"You can blow but I can't smash?" Hulk argued.

"Uh, last time I checked blowing up stuff made the job easier and a lot more fun," Tony countered.

"We cannot blow it up," Thor chided. "That animal could be sacred to the Natives that either does or once resigned in these parts. For all we know, killing it could anger them if so."

"Then we have to get it out here and distract it while we can," Natasha said.

"How are we going to do that?" Rhodey asked.

Hulk suddenly roared, echoes of the sound bouncing off of the walls. His teammates ducked down and covered their heads and waited for the thing to appear. When nothing happened, they glared at him.

"Smooth," Tony chided. "Real smooth. What are you trying to do, get us all killed?"

"I thought we were drawing it out," Thor recounted. His tone sounded off with the words he said as he fixed a glared at the empty grotto.

"Ooo-kay," Tony said. "Nothing in there and no monster coming. Still can't explain why we're still here then."

"I'll tell you why," Thor spoke as he stepped into the small area. "Tis some kind of magic emanating from this place. The only problem is that this kind is nothing I am familiar with."

"Well, this pretty much sums up the basics again," Natasha uttered. "We just need to know exactly _what_ it is that's causing it."

"I wish Loki where still alive and here."

The entire team gawked at him.

"He's a practitioner of magic," Thor quickly explained. "He'd be able to find out what it is within a second."

"I'll take care of it," Tony said.

"Don't touch a thing or make a noise," Natasha warned.

"I know," Tony said. "JARVIS, run a scan for me."

"Mortal technology," Thor scoffed. "You would do better to trust your eyes and ears."

Clint and Rhodey snickered.

"Bet Cupid and RoboCop couldn't do it to save their lives," Hulk said.

"Oh, you wanna go, buddy? Do ya?" Clint challenged, glaring at the behemoth.

" _Sir, there is a large energy signature from your right,"_ JARVIS spoke.

"Great," Tony said. "Although it's so weird that I didn't see nor hear it."

Thor scowled.

"Okay, you can smash it now," Natasha said.

"Finally!" Hulk's fist slammed into the side, forcing Tony to yelp and duck.

"Give me a warning next time," Tony growled.

A primal, warbled screech echoed suddenly throughout the cave. Everyone froze.

"Oh, sure," Tony exclaimed. "It won't respond to Hulk roaring but it'll respond to that?"

The sound of wings flapping could be heard coming from down one of the tunnels. The team prepared themselves. The sight of an enormous creature was their first glimpse of it. The creature landed in front of them, towering over them completely. It hissed at them, looking disdain.

"Hey," Tony greeted stupidly.

" _Scree-EEK!_ "

The creature roared, forcing them to cover their ears. The creature reared back and brought its forelimbs down, pinning Natasha and Clint to the ground, drool dripping from its mouth. It was ready to devour them when something slammed into it, forcing it to go flying in the air and crash nearby. A hammer came flying and into the hand of Thor.

"Thanks," Clint coughed.

"No problem," Thor said.

"It's getting up," Rhodey informed.

"Alright," Tony snarled. "Let's just get this over with."

The creature turned to them and let out the same warbled scream as before, but it was distant thanks to Thor.

"Hulk get," the Hulk said as he charged forward.

"Hulk, wait!" Natasha called out, but her words fell on deaf ears as the Hulk slammed into it again, grabbing onto the shoulder. The creature just used its winged forelimb to swat the Hulk off of it. The Hulk crashed into the grotto, the rock inside falling on top of him. As it turned around, it noticed the others running down where they came in from. With one leap, the animal flew into the air and began to chase them.

"How does something get that big?" Natasha asked.

"You wanna turn around and ask it?" Clint replied as they made it outside.

The beast felt a bolt of lightning singed its brow, causing it to scream once more. Clint shot several arrows into the air and pressed a button on his bow. The arrows exploded and completely confused their prey. Tony unleashed several rockets from his shoulder pads. Natasha lit its skin on fire with some of her grenades. The onslaught wasn't doing much harm to it. It was just making it angry.

Very angry.

With a guttural shriek, it lifted its forelimbs high into the air and slammed them into the ground. A shockwave shot from its claws and flew outwards. The HUDs in Rhodey and Tony's helmets went off. "Uh-oh."

Screams of terror came out as they fell towards the Earth at an incredibly fast rate. With a loud smack, they made touchdown with the ground.

Rhodey and Tony ended up lying beside one another when Clint bent over to look at them. "What happened?"

"I think we just fell out of the sky," Tony said. They staggered to their feet and turned around, seeing the monster in combat with Thor. Clint clicked his bow several times but got none of his tech to reactivate.

"Tony, my weapons aren't working," he said. Tony raised his arm, but got the same result.

"Mine either," he said. "JARVIS, run a diagnostic." The usual snarky voice was nowhere to be heard. "JARVIS. JARVIS?"

Steve and Sam had just appeared before they could realize what they were up against.

"Whoa," Sam mused.

"That thing has got to be bigger than the Leviathans," Steve agreed. "But they'll need our help."

"Got it!"

Sam activated the wings in his pack and zoomed in on it. Steve threw his shield with all of his might and it slammed into the beast's jaw. With a battle cry, Sam charged. He jumped on its head and took a swipe at it. It cried out in pain and frustration, shaking its head wildly. Sam went in for another blow. Natasha removed a grenade from belt and threw it at the creature's back. Unfortunately, it turned its body around, and the grenade detonated at the tip of one of Sam's wings. He screamed as he fell right onto Tony, causing Clint to laugh.

"Come on!" Tony shouted.

" _Scree-EEK."_

The chilling call echoed across the forest floor. They all turned to see the beast flying over the forest, its black silhouette notable against the clouds. It shrank farther and farther until it disappeared completely. The team was exhausted. They had put their all into that showdown, but had nothing to prove their worth.

Clint glared at Steve.

"What?"

"Why weren't you answering?" Clint demanded.

"We were looking for someone," Sam defended. "We can't be making personal calls when even HYDRA is trying to kill us all."

Heavy footsteps had them turning around to look at what it was. Hulk approached them, cradling something in his arms. Or someone.

"What is it?" Steve asked as they approached him. He noticed a confused frown on the giant's face. They looked down at the person and for a minute, it barely made any sense. Shock suddenly ran through them.

"Is that…?" Rhodey started.

"And everyone here thought I am out of time," Thor spoke.

"Shut up," Tony squeaked.


	2. Waking Up In a New Time

2\. Waking Up In a New Time

"What the hell?" Clint shouted as they stared at the sight before them. The Hulk was holding a man dressed in black, minus the shirt and the stetson that were both white. A domino mask rested on his face.

"Is that…the Lone Ranger?" Sam asked after a moment.

"I…I think so," Steve stammered. "Hulk, can we set him down so we know what we're dealing with?"

"Cap no hurt him?" Hulk grunted.

"I'm sure he's fine, but if we could have Bruce back it would help a lot," Steve said.

Hulk considered Steve's suggestion before nodding and carefully placing him on the ground. The Hulk stood up the best he could before closing his eyes. The Avengers watched as the Hulk turned back into Bruce Banner before turning to the man.

"Well, this is new," he murmured.

Natasha crouched down and checked for a pulse. When she found one, she stood up with a frown. "He's still alive."

"Um, come again?" Tony asked.

"How is that possible? He's been around since the 1860s and now…" Clint scratched his head.

"This is odd indeed," Thor frowned. "He is radiating of the same magic of before, but it's fading, becoming quite more faint. It's not of Asgardian but of different origin…He's something else, something familiar…" He snapped his fingers. "I know!"

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"He is a spirit-walker," Thor answered. "An old Comanche tale. It's a being who has been to the other side after their death and returned. A man who cannot be killed at any circumstances."

"You're telling us that this is some guy who died, came back from the dead, and he can't die?" Clint questioned. "Awesome."

"And that beast is something of another mythology?" Natasha stated. "What was it doing? Guarding him from someone?"

"It would appear so." Thor nodded his head. "It did not react to the Hulk's roar, but only when we tried to free him."

"Well, it's not doing a good job if it took off just like that," Sam said, turning to the direction where it disappeared to.

Clint noticed how silent Rhodey was. "Are you alright?"

"I can't believe we have the Lone Ranger right here," Rhodey whispered.

"So, what was he doing in there?" Sam asked.

"The animal looked like it was gonna drag this down," Steve spoke. "So, uh, Thor. You've been into these worlds many times before. Do you know what it was?"

"Not that I know of," Thor said.

"I wanna know how he got like that in the first place," Bruce wondered. "Or how he managed to survive so long in it."

"Have you seen _Return of the Jedi_?" Tony questioned. "Han Solo went through just that."

"Oh, come on, that's just stupid," Clint said. "Hey, Natasha, I'm going ice skating on a rainbow!"

Natasha just glared at him.

"Let's get back to the tower and we can figure this whole thing out later…" Steve frowned. "Where is your ride?"

"Just follow us." Clint tugged his redhaired buddy along side him. The others followed them with the Ranger in Thor's arms. Natasha just walked on with her head bowed down.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked.

"We have a man from the nineteenth century, still fresh and alive, and we don't have a clue as to how he got there or what connection there is between him and the creature," Natasha said as they boarded the quinjet. "Something just doesn't seem right."

"Oh, c'mon. It'll be fun!" Clint exclaimed. "Just imagine the look on everyone else's faces when they see him in action."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Natsha grumbled as the jet roared to life. He looked behind to see the others entering the jet; Thor was setting the unconscious man down on a seat. He still didn't wake up as they headed on back to the tower.

"Pepper is going to have a field day with this," Tony mumbled as he stepped out of his suit.

"I think it's Maria we might want to worry about," Steve said as he stood over at the beside. However, as he leaned over for inspection, a nagging feeling tugged at the back of his head. He hesitated and slowly reached out at the Ranger, but a feeling tingled in his fingertips and ran up his arm. He backed his hand and tried to reach out, and the feeling returned. Something about the Ranger was off. It looked like he was asleep, but Steve could suddenly feel something emitting from him. Slowly Steve rested a hand on his shoulder and an electrical feeling tickled his hand. He pulled his hand back and took a step away.

"Is something wrong?" Thor asked.

"No, nothing's wrong," Steve said. "It's just that there seems to be something off about him naturally."

"Thank you," Natasha said, not even looking up.

"Déjà vu."

Everyone looked at Rhodey.

"Hello? Him being trapped in stone is like Steve trapped in ice," he exclaimed, spreading his hands out.

"Okay, so can somebody get me a blow torch?" Tony said.

"This is serious," said Steve. "Whatever the reason is, he's got some sort of force coming from him."

Tony smiled. "Oh no," he stated. "He's bad luck, bad voodoo." He snickered, "Give us a break."

A hand suddenly grabbed his wrist tightly and Tony suddenly saw visions from a past, one that was not his. They contained rock melting, riders on horses with war cries, a woman and a boy running, a man on a horse yelling at another one to give him his hand, the slaughter of Natives, fire, a carnivorous rabbit, that animal they fought earlier, and finally a dreadful one: it flickered between a man with a disfigured mouth and the Ranger himself, wiping blood from their face.

Tony felt himself falling backwards and his arms flailing. He landed hard on his back, the air knocked out of him, causing him to breath heavily.

"Are you okay?" Rhodey asked as he and Bruce helped him up.

"Yeah, I think so," Tony groaned.

"What just happened?" Natasha demanded.

"This man needs to be taken back to tower for an examination," Thor suggested. "There is no telling what else has happened to him while he was asleep. Especially with the creature guarding him.

"So, what do we do now?" Sam asked.

"First, we'll bring him back and try to get him to come through," Bruce suggested. "He'll have to wake up on his own from there."

* * *

Hours went by; they waited and watched at the tower on their return, only hoping that there were good signs all through the night. They were careful to take any clothing off except for the mask to get them cleaned before putting them back on. Natasha and Clint came around late at night, hoping they could find something or some piece of information to help solve the mystery, but found nothing.

The next day, they could get a better glimpse of him. The man looked about in his twenties, had a shaven clean face and pale skin. Bruce speculated that it must have been because of being in stone and not in sunlight for a long period of time. Now being out of stone for days, color was returning to him.

One week later a small gasp escaped from his lips before exhaling softly, and then his eyes slowly peeled up.

* * *

John felt his eyes flutter open and found himself staring into the warm eyes of an unfamiliar man with curly brown hair, wearing a purple dress shirt.

"Hey, you're going to be fine sir," the man said calmly.

John seemed fine, but panic suddenly filled him. Where was Tonto and Silver? What if they found out what his name was? He brought his hand up and felt the fabric of his mask on his cheekbone, relieved.

"I'm Doctor Bruce Banner, and I'm not going to hurt you. Your wounds are mildly infected from that sleep you had," Bruce informed the man, helping him prop himself up against the many pillows behind his head.

"W-Where am I?" John croaked.

"Stark Tower, or is it Avengers Tower?" Bruce looked over his shoulder and startled, John hadn't noticed a man leaning against the doorway.

"I was thinking of naming it Avengers Tower. I mean all that's left from Loki's asault is the letter A," Tony mused, pushing himself off the wall, slowly walking to the bedside.

"Is that mine?" John asked, noticing the jacket on him.

Tony couldn't help grinning as he took it off. "Sorry, just a force of habit. How you feeling?"

"Better…I guess. When can I get out of here?" John started to sit up when Bruce placed his hand on his shoulder.

"You aren't healed yet, we have to keep your wounds cleaned so they don't get infected," Bruce said sternly. John shied away from the touch of the doctor. There was something odd about him, but he wasn't sure of what it was.

"I'm guessing you know who I am." John sunk back into the pillows behind him.

"The Lone Ranger, the masked man who fights injustice in the Old West," Tony rattled off, tossing the man his jacket. "The rest is still unrwritten.

"Uh, thanks," John said.

"We'll be right back," Bruce grabbed Tony's wrist and pulled him out of the room, giving the man some privacy.

John blinked before he slowly tried to sit up straight. A small patch of pain spread in the small of his back, causing him to slightly grunt. He looked around the room, feeling a bit drowsy.

 _What time is it?_

John couldn't find anything that told time, so he picked up the first thing he could find: a coin. It was shiny and silver, but probably not pure silver. There was an eagle on one side a man's head on the other. What really puzzled him was the year printed under the man. Why did it say 2014?

"What on earth?" John looked around to find out why that number was on that coin. He got up, pain screaming in his back. He stumbled around the room, trying to find something to answer his questions.

Something caught his eye from a chair. Newsprint. _Perfect_! He grabbed it and looked at the date.

 _What?_

His hands trembled and his body quaked, the paper slipping from his grip. That couldn't be right. It just couldn't be. The ranger slid against the wall and clutched his head.

"This can't be right," he whispered, covering his face. "This just can't _be_ right."

 _"Pardon me, sir, but it is,"_ a sudden voice spoke.

John jumped up, grabbing the first thing his hands could get a hold of. "Who's there?"

 _"Oh, forgive me, I'm Just a Rather Very Intelligent System,"_ the voice introduced. _"Also known as JARVIS, and I don't think that pillow will do any harm."_

John looked down and saw his choice of weapon in his hand, his cheeks reddening in embarrassment. "Oh." He looked up. "Where are you?"

 _"I am wherever you are at in this tower,"_ Jarvis explained. "Mr. _Stark has programmed and installed me to be his butler."_

John frowned. "What?"

 _"You are from an earlier time, but as the days go by, you'll understand,"_ Jarvis pointed out.

"What am I suppose to do?"

 _"I can assist you in anything."_

John perked up. "Anything?"

* * *

"This is ridiculous," Natasha exclaimed as they returned to the tower. "Clint, you gotta stop asking why they couldn't attack those places."

"Oh, come on," Clint said. "How was I suppose to know that the Attica Correctional Facility would _be_ its _next_ target?"

"You're not suppose to," Tony said.

"Um, Tony, do you think it's time for them to perform a meet and greet?" Bruce spoke up.

"What?" everyone asked, turning to them.

"Oh, yes," Tony remembered. "After a very lengthy week, our dear guest is finally awake."

"Yes!" Rhodey's fist pumped.

"About time," Natasha said.

"How was he?" Steve asked.

"Healthy and ready to go," Bruce chuckled.

 _"Sir?"_ Jarvis spoke.

"Yes, JARVIS?" Tony responded.

 _"I believe our guest is—how do I put this—not in the building,"_ JARVIS informed the group.

"What?!" Tony squeaked.

"What do you mean he's not in the building?" Sam asked.

 _"I mean he left,"_ JARVIS said.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Clint questioned in a squeaky voice.

 _"You just arrived,"_ JARVIS said.

"Why did you let him out?" Bruce wanted to know.

 _"Mr. Stark said I could assist him in whatever he wishes,"_ JARVIS deadpanned. _"And that was it."_

"Smartass," Tony mumbled, before something hit him. "JARVIS, how did he get out? The elevator and doors were locked."

 _"He politely asked me to let him out."_ Somehow JARVIS managed to sound bashful.

"Wow, doesn't this man sounds gentlemanly," Natasha stated.

"What about me?" Clint asked.

"Uh-huh," Natasha mumbled, receiving a glare from the archer.

"That's not a good thing," Sam said.

"Of course not," Thor agreed. "That man would be in danger should anyone recognize him. Or believe him."

"You think he couldn't have gotten that far, could he?" Steve wondered as he put his jacket back on.

"Doesn't matter," Tony replied. "If that very same creature was after him, then we're all S.O.L."

"There's just one problem: Where did he go?" Clint stated.


	3. The Monster Returns

3\. The Monster Returns

He had no idea where he was, he just didn't care. He was out of that place and that bizarre city. The only problem—finding his way back to Texas. It didn't matter anymore if Tonto and Silver were gone like the wind, he just wanted to go back to a place he was familiar with.

His foot caught hold of a rock and he stumbled down a small hill. He quickly scrambled up his feet and looked back.

"You're not going to get me," he whispered before he continued on. "You're _not_ going to get me!"

* * *

As the quinjet flew over the forest, the Avengers were growing anxious.

"Any signs yet?" Steve asked.

"Not one," Natasha answered.

"We'll have to keep looking," Steve said. "Let's try looking on ground."

Thor looked stoic from where he was sitting, but Bruce could see the anxiety in his eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I do not like this," Thor whispered.

"That we found a man who can't die on the battlefield?" Bruce wondered.

"No, I meant the beast," Thor said. "It's like nothing I have seen before."

"You guys, what are we going to do once we find him?" Sam asked.

Steve shrugged. "Hopefully it'll end well."

"Okay, brace yourselves," Clint announced.

Bruce looked up. "What?"

The quinjet landed roughly and most of them hit the floor. Bruce groaned in pain. He then peeked an eye open before sighing in relief.

"Let's go," Tony said as he opened the hatch and they all piled out.

Rhodey turned around and found Natasha sitting there. "Are you not coming?" he asked her.

"No, Natasha never liked the forest since that thing attacked us," Clint responded.

"Shut up, Clint," Natasha said as he laughed and exit out of the quinjet. Realizing she was alone, Natasha said, "Well, if everyone else is leaving..." She got up and went outside.

Right as a shockwave collided into them, causing the power in the jet to go out.

"What?" Rhodey squawked.

"No, no, no," Tony whined.

"What happened?" Sam panicked.

"Don't worry, this happened before," Natasha said.

"So you know how to fix it?" Steve asked.

"Yep. Kill the flying bastard," Clint replied.

* * *

They had managed to find a rest stop not far from where they were. Bruce called the nearest vehicular department and spoke on the phone. Putting a hand over it, he turned to the others and said, "Okay. Someone can come pick us up."

"Great!" Natasha exclaimed.

"Yeah, what town are we near?" Bruce asked.

"Jersey City," Sam guessed. "Elizabeth, ah I don't know."

"Then why are you answering?" Clint wondered.

"Do _I_ have to answer about where we are?" Thor asked.

"No," said Clint.

"Oh, thank the Allfather," Thor sighed in relief.

"Okay, is there anyone who is not Asgardian that knows where we are?" Bruce asked.

"Can you ask them the nearest roads from New York in the southwest?" Natasha requested.

Bruce did. "Either Seventy-six or Ninety-three."

"Here, let me try," Rhodey said as he took the phone. "Hey, can you send somebody up and down Seventy-six and check every rest stop, and also Ninety-three?...Okay!" He hung up. "Yeah, they don't do that."

"Ugh, well, somebody will come and save us eventually," Natasha groaned in frustration.

"Who?" Bruce asked. "I mean have you seen a car come by here in the last hour and a half? We should just call Fury. Maybe he can have someone come pick us up."

No answer came from the assassins.

"I think we should just live here," Clint finally answered.

"But what if..." Sam started.

"No, we are not going to get into trouble because of this and I am keeping a promise for _once_ , so you'll have to think of something else," Natasha said.

"Oh good, Steven and Anthoney are back," Thor announced.

Steve walked up to them, helping Tony as he was gasping for air.

"What happened?" Rhodey asked.

"Well, Ol' Smokey Joe here got halfway to the highway and collapsed," Steve answered, patting Tony on the back.

"I have the lung capacity of a two year old," Tony gasped.

"I can't imagine why," Natasha said, receiving a glare from Tony.

"Look," Thor announced, pointing at the ground. "Footprints."

Steve crouched down and studied them. "Good eye."

"It could've been ours," Tony said.

"You guys went east. They lead off south," Sam spoke, pointing out towards the woods.

"Then why are we still here?" Clint barked as he headed into that direction. "Let's go!"

The trees towered over them, sheltering the nocturnal mammels and birds as they continued down the path. The moon peeked through the leaves once in a while to give them some light.

"How on Earth could he have gotten this far?" Clint wondered.

"How about we worry about how he'll survive out here by himself?" Bruce suggested.

"How are we going to find him?" Sam wondered.

"Ooh, let's just call out his name like they do to their pets," Tony thought, getting looks from everyone. "What? It works all the time."

"He's not a dog, Stark," Steve spoke. "And I don't think he's willing at this point either."

Thor glanced at them. "This man is strong. I may not know him the way either of you do, but he does have the spirit of that of any mighy creature. If he managed to stay alive in that cave for years, then he may survive in the wilderness." He looked up ahead and walked forward. Rhodey exhaled through his nose, knowing there was no way to convince him otherwise.

They followed the God of Thunder, Steve surprising himself that Thor had maintained a positive atmosphere around him. He had seen it in Bucky before, but he never thought of it to be strong. Time to play it out now.

* * *

No one knew how long they had been out there or what, but once they headed back for the quinjet, they were exhausted after discovering they had reached a dead end. They would have to figure out how to get back to the tower and to plan a search, but not long before Sam stopped and grabbed Steve before pointing ahead.

The quinjet was torn open like a soup can, with the lights flickering dimly. A scrawny head rose from the wreckage, concealed by the shadows. The same monster they had fought earlier in the month. It yanked out a device from the interior, sparks shooting out after it. It tossed it to the side before ducking down inside to search for more.

"Our quinjet," Clint whispered in horror.

"JARVIS, scan this creature and send it to Hill, see if she can find any information on it," Tony spoke into an earpiece in a low tone.

" _On it, sir."_

Tony slapped a hand over his ear, keeping JARVIS' voice quiet. The creature glanced up briefly from the wreckage. It shrugged and went back into its search.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Natasha hissed. "You almost gave us away."

"It's JARVIS' fault, not mine," Tony said.

Rhodey had noticed a small pile of sticks nearby. He quickly picked them up and started to arrange them in letters.

"Rhodes, what are you doing?" Steve asked.

"Trying something out," Rhodes said as he continued his work.

Bruce took a step back and soon, his footfalls were stopped when a twig snapped loudly beneath his foot. The monster looked up and turned to their direction. It let out a warbled roar.

"We've been compromised!" Natasha said.

Steve threw his shield at its torso. It bounced off and he caught in in time. With an annoyed hiss, it swiped at them. Natasha fired several times at it but to no avail. Clint shot two arrows into its shoulder, both armed with explosives in the arrowheads. With a click of the device on his wrist, the arrows exploded. Chunks of flesh and blood burst from its shoulder. Enraged, it looked at Clint and prepared to snap at him but was interrupted when Rhodey fired the repulsor from the one gauntlet he had salvaged at it. The beast had been caught off guard before its ridges narrowed in annoyance. It snarled at Rhodey and swiped at him, missing when Thor threw his hammer at its head before retrieving it. Slowly, the beast turned to him, an angry snarl visible on its face before it raised a forelimb and crushed the quinjet.

An explosion, followed by bursts of orange fire erupted, with the heat setting fire to some of the grass around it. Smoke billowed out over the room, obscuring any and all sight. Clint and Natasha held their arms in front of their mouths. Tony rose to his feet, knocked clean to the ground from the explosion. He could see nothing through the smoke. He heard the rustling of bushes and saw Sam emerge from the smoke. He reached out for him and helped him up.

"Come on!" he said, covering his mouth.

"Target lost!" Steve shouted, looking all around for the monster.

"How do you lose a giant animal?" Rhodey asked.

"Where did it go?" Clint asked.

"Looking," Tony said, pulling up a holographic display of the area on his pad. Nine markers were on the holographic map. "To the left! Repeat, to the—"

Just then, a tenth marker appeared on the map. It was coming towards them.

"Who's that?" Sam asked.

"Uh, Clint, Nat?" Tony asked. "Do you have anyone coming?"

"If we did, they picked a hell of a time to show up," Clint replied.

"I found it!" Natasha hollered.

The monster ignored the shots from Natasha and approached the unconscious Thor. It lowered its head and peered down, eyes flared. Drool was hanging inside its mouth like cobwebs. Suddenly the Hulk appear and smashed the remains of a tree before Steve threw his shield into its head. Angry, the creature turned to Steve and roared, charging towards them. Clint raised his bow and fired the arrow, resulting an explosion. The creature shrieked and swung a clawed hand towards Steve, ducking and dodging its every move. It bought enough time for Hulk to jump and grab its head, bringing it down with him. However, it rolled its head and slammed Hulk into the ground, leaving an imprint in the soil.

Thor groaned as he slowly supported himself and brushed the dirt off of him. He looked up and saw the creature fighting the others. He scrambled to his feet and spun his hammer around before he held it threw it at the monster. It slammed into it's shoulder. Natasha jumped onto its back and hung on as long as she could. Sam grabbed the tail.

"Don't. Make us. Have to. Hurt you!" Sam was being swung around as the monster tried to shake them off.

"Get clear!" Rhodey shouted, aiming his only gauntlet.

"We're trying to," Natasha yelled back.

Hulk slammed his fists together. Mjolnir hung in Thor's hand. Steve held his shield before him, the star in the center shining brightly. Clint tried to aim an arrow, Tony scanning for any weaknesses…

A loud banging noise forced them to drop down. The creature staggered back, startled at the sudden sound, roaring as it took off. Natasha and Sam jumped off in time.

"It's getting away!" Hulk shouted.

"Hold back!" Steve ordered. "We'll be ready for it next time."

"JARVIS, what was that?" Tony asked.

" _A gunshot from behind, sir,"_ JARVIS responded. They turned around and saw a familiar masked man lower his pistol.

"Hey, it's the Lone Ranger," Rhodey exclaimed excitedly.

"Hey," Steve and Tony greeted.

"What is he doing here?" Natasha demanded. They turned at her with weird looks. "What? It's usually us who has to save their butts, not the other way around."

" _He_ just saved _your_ life," the Ranger retorted. "Unless of course I'm stepping on some toes here, I have somewhere else I need to be right at the moment."

"No!" they shouted.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tony exclaimed as he ran up and stopped the man from leaving.

Rhodey looked down at the ground. "Hey, my sign's still there."

Thor gawked at it. "What's 'pleh?'"

"Hey, Rhodes?" Natasha spoke. "What's doofus spelled backwards?"

"She gets the reference," Rhodey squealed quietly.

Tony gave him a thumbs up.

"Yeah," the man drawled, catching their attention. "Look, I can't stay here much longer. I have to go now."

"And where do you think you're going?" Natasha questioned, hands on her hips.

"Anywhere but here," the man answered.

"Um, you do realize a great deal has changed since you were put under sleep?" Steve reminded.

"Look, why don't you just tell him your experience?" Sam whispered to him.

That got the man's attention. He stopped and turned to them. "What did you say?"

Everyone turned to Steve, hoping for him to speak on their behalf. The captain's mouth opened and closed, but he couldn't register any words to come out.

"Is that man green?"

Hulk folded his arms and looked away.

"Um, now would be a good time to take the mask off," Tony said to the Ranger.

"What? Why?"

Tony glanced at the others for some help. They looked at one another to come up with an answer.

 _So much for team support,_ Tony thought to himself.

"Because," Natasha explained slowly, "chances are that you wearing it in public will bring more danger to you than it would for good."

"If it makes him uncomfortable to take the mask on, then there shouldn't be a reason for us to force it off of him," Steve spoke.

"Hello!" Rhodey piped. "Natasha could be right."

"I know she could be, but that doesn't mean—"

"I kinda want to see the mask off of him," Clint grumbled so the Ranger wouldn't hear.

"Isn't that a little rusty of you to say?" Sam questioned.

"If it stays on, then let us keep it that way," Thor said.

Everyone turned to their new friend. His eyes darted between every single one of them. Take of the mask, some of them requested. Let it be as he pleases, a few defended. If those who requested it off was given a no, would they force him to take it off? What good would come out of it then? It wasn't fair for him that they were talking about him and his secret identity, like he wasn't there. And their stares were making him uncomfortable.

True, he could beg for them to respect his wishes of keeping it on, but the thought of having the cloth off of his face would be like losing some of the weight he had been carrying for the years. Chances were that his skin was sweaty and a little wrinkly from having it on for too long. Although a part of him warned him of some ill luck that would come if he removed it, a part of him had _screamed_ for him to set himself free from hiding himself. He had kept the domino mask on for so long to conceal his identity from everyone who wanted him dead to begin with, or thought he was killed in the massacre that took his brother's life and all of the other fellow rangers.

Who's to say they were all still alive? Of course they wouldn't be; this is the twenty-first century. Everyone he knew was _long_ gone. The thought of all of the people he had known to be dead may have made his heart sink heavily, but there was no reason for him to hide ever again. Unless history swore to repeat itself.

With trembling hands, John reached up for the knot that bounded his mask and carefully undid it. The people had made the entire scene more intense as they leaned in a little closer. He made sure the knot was completely untied before he gazed at the ground and peeled the mask off of his face. He wiped whatever little sweat was around the areas of his eyes before he slowly revealed his face.

Natasha had leaned out a little more to see him. Clint had turned around. "Natasha!" he exclaimed as he saw the look on her face, forcing her to stand up straight.

Tony was a little quiet on the matter, debating on what to do next when:

"Well," he spoke as he took John's hand and shook it. "Welcome to New York City, I'm Tony Stark!" He placed an arm around his shoulder and continued, "You already know Clint, Rhodes, Steve, Natasha—"

Rhodey cried out as they walked through his sign, forcing John to jump.

"Wait a minute," Clint said. "The attack of the thing couldn't make a mess out of it, but _that_ can?"

Rhodey glared at him.

"I mean: Oh-no, now it's not gonna make any sense," Clint mourned sarcastically.

"You're hopeless!" Rhodey exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

"Okay," Tony said. "This is Sam, that's Thor, and that's Hulk." To John quietly he added, "The short man he turns back to is Bruce, but that'll happen when this is over."

"You have a whole era that's just strange," was all John said.

"Buddy, you haven't seen everything yet," Tony mumbled.

Clint suddenly burst out laughing and everyone stared at him.

"He has a gun!" Clint exclaimed.


	4. Stuck In a Tight Spot

4\. Stuck In a Tight Spot

College—it was one colossal mess, but it was worth her time. And it was amazing to see how much time had gone by. Life there had been interesting to say the least. Amy had enjoyed her time there. She had planned to major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Her hair was brown, and her eyes dark brown; thin and about five-foot-five, and she was the most eccentric girl a person could ever meet.

At college, she had a group of friends she hung out with. They got along well, and they had made many memories together. Amy, as much as she had loved it, was anxious to finish it.

The train suddenly stopped and the lights went out. Everyone looked up in confusion as everyone began to clamor in confusion as well.

"Hey, everyone calm down," their guide spoke up as loud as he could. "It's just a power outage. They happen all the time. I'm sure that they're fixing it right now. Just relax and we'll be fine."

"Will we be safe?" an older woman asked.

"We're not even anywhere near the city," a man snorted.

"Sir, please," the guide spoke. "I was trained to know what to do in situations like this. The best thing to do is to calm down and sit back down."

The uproar ceased quietly and the passengers sat down in their seats. Amy sighed in relief and noticed the boy sitting next to her was crying. "You okay there?"

The boy looked up, his eyes full of tears. "Do you really think they'll fix it?"

Amy nodded with a smile. "Definitely. I know for sure that they're going to turn on the backup generators as we speak." She looked out the window and whispered quietly, "I hope."

* * *

He clutched the mask tightly in his hands as they stopped to rest. Knowing that it take a long while to get back to Manhattan, they had to camp out in the woods for the night. Steve and Clint went to gather as much firewood as they could. With what little resources they found, they managed to get a fire going.

"You think the monster will come back?" Bruce wondered as he threw in a branch. The fire cackled and popped.

"Nope," Tony said. "Otherwise, I'd be kicking it's ass if it shows up again."

John watched as Steve dragged a rotting stump and set it down. The blonde man went back to fetch more. Then his focus was once more on the others, trying to study them some more. In due time, he'd know enough to figure out his situation and fix it.

Thinking it over now, there was a lot to consider. A new era and a new time. So many new things to see and discover. All the things that would be alien…

 _"Well, welcome to New York City."_

The world had changed a lot; it wasn't the same place he had known. Back then things were less deadly and the greed for land and the trains were growing. When he had been trapped in slumber, he never knew things would change so quickly. He never thought of such vehicles to be far superior to trains, that man would figure how to fly, that tracking down people was easy and possible, that technology would advance...or would exist.

His fingers slowly curled into fists as he stared at the fire. He didn't deserve to be a part of this time. This wasn't his time. This was absolute foreign to him. This time belonged to them, not to him. Why was he still alive? How could fate be so cruel to him?

A new sound forced them to look around in defense. It sounded like the mix of a pack of howling wolves and laughing hyenas.

"What the hell was that?" Tony asked.

"Coyotes," Sam mumbled.

"Hey! Keep it down out there!" Rhodey shouted.

"Rhodes, just calm down," Bruce replied.

"Don't you 'Rhodes' me, mister."

"Remind me to get earplugs the next time we end up camping out here," Nat said before she turned and punched Clint.

"OW!" he shouted. "What was that for?"

"You're not suffering like the rest of us," Nat replied.

"Earplugs sound good right now, but not because of the dogs," Thor whispered to Steve.

John let out a gentle laugh that brought Tony's attention to him, right before his next words ended him as the center of attention.

"So," Tony spoke, rubbing his hands as if to keep them warm. "The newest man out of time. How did someone like you get into something like that rock?"

All eyes were reverted to him. John felt shy and tried to avoid eye contact with them. He had never been one for center of attention; he wasn't about to get confortable with it now.

"I…" John frowned. He _didn't_ remember how he ended up like that. He didn't even remember what he did that day. "I'm not really sure. I think that creature might have something to do with it."

"Oh, you think so?" Clint asked, sarcasm dripping off of every word. He yelped when Natasha elbowed him.

"Funny," John growled. "But I am serious. I don't even remember where I was at. I know it wasn't here, that's for sure. What kind of a beast was it either way?"

Steve gave Bruce a sideways glance. He just shook his head.

"I do not know the name, nor the nature of the creature," Thor spoke. "But if we are to guess, it's been around for a very long time. In the cave where you rested there was a painting of it on the walls."

"We just assume it had some kind of history with humans hundreds of years ago," Natasha added, throwing a twig into the fire.

"Right," John said, nodding. "You know what…"

Tony jolted up onto his feet, one finger pointing at him. Everyone looked up at him in amusement. Realizing how ridiculous he looked, the billionaire slowly sat down back into his place.

"Wow," Clint laughed. "I've never seen any of you guys this psyched since we watched that episode from _That_ _70s_ _Show_."

"It's there!" Thor boomed as he stood up. "You could hear the words: Kelso lot of love!"

Everyone started to chatter, arguing over that. John's eyes darted between the bickering team. He had no clue as to what they were referring to, but it must've been an important moment. Especially since they set him free from his imprisonment.

There was a slight rumble before they found drops of rain coming down on them slowly.

"Well, that's just fantastic," Tony growled.

 _"Great," Natasha grumbled. "Just what we need."_

"We should make haste," Thor suggested, "before the rain decides to drench us."

"Good idea," Steve agreed, heading into a direction.

The trees towered over them, dripping from the rain as they continued down the path. A flash of lightening lit the darkness for only a brief second then and now.

"Tony, we're not resting every five seconds so you can catch a breath," Steve said after a while. "I know, I know. You have the lung capacity of a two year old."

"How's that possible?" John asked.

"It's not," Bruce answered.

"Oh, taxi!" Sam called out.

The taxi, however, passed him and the puddle of water was splashed onto him, soaking him wet. Thor laughed as he spitted out the water that got into his mouth. "It's not funny."

"I respectfully disagree," Clint snickered.

"Well, I'm not going back like this," Sam snarled, pulling his hood over his head.

"It's gonna be one hell of a walk," Natasha stated.

"It's okay, I could use a good walk," Bruce said.

John looked around nervously as he followed them down the road. Of all the things he was not going to get use to were these people and this time period. He had found little comfort when Steve said he knew what he was going through. On the other hand...

John felt a chill, and it wasn't just from the rain. Despite the voices of the entire squad, everything seemed eerily still.

A sort of ear-shattering music forced him to jump as Tony pulled out a device from his pocket. "Wow, there are bars out here?"

"What was that?" Steve asked.

"Imagine Dragons," Tony answered as he pressed the device to his ear. "Hello?"

"What is that thing?" John asked.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine," Tony sighed. "Listen, Pepper..."

Thor shrugged. "I don't have one."

"You don't _need_ one," Clint said. "You'd just fry it."

"Change of plans," Tony announced. "Looks like there's trouble over in Washington with the train."

John looked up. "Train?"

"Can I come?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Steve said.

"What about him?" Natasha asked, pointing at John.

Steve looked at John. "You got a suit?"

John looked himself over. "I guess."

"Let's go then."

 **Sorry that this took so long — and if this was short — but I had lot going on right now in life, and I have a lot of things happening in the next chapter. So, enjoy it while you can.**


	5. Catching Trains

5\. Catching Trains

John was freaking out. This was all too much too take. First he woke up in another time and place, now he was flying in the air in the same thing that he saw explode in the woods. He looked out the window of the new quinjet and felt dizzy.

"Enjoying the moment?" Tony whooped.

"Why are we so high in the air?" John asked in worry.

"Because it was made to do it," Natasha answered as she reached up above her to press a switch.

John looked a bit frightened. He didn't really want to be right up here, but was there really any other choice? And besides, the only thing that confused him was the interior. He wished right now Bruce were there right since they were close enough to be comfortable with to talk to. Unlike Tony, who was starting to irk him.

"Found it," Sam announced.

John looked up and came forward, just in time to see it standing between the capital and the train. Only problem for him, the latter looked nothing like the ones he was familiar with.

"That is huge," Tony said.

"You got that right," Steve said. "Bruce, any weak spots?"

 _"Mostly the underbelly and the sides,_ " Bruce answered back at the tower. _"Everything else is covered in carapace."_

"We gotta make a jump," Tony said.

"What about the passengers?" John asked.

"They jump!" Tony said.

"What?" John squawked.

"I'm kidding," Tony laughed. Then serious he said, "We're going down there to get them out."

"Nat, can you get us a little closer?" Steve asked.

"Already on it," Clint answered.

"John, you think you can handle this?" Tony asked.

John gave him a look. "You want me to help you take that down?"

"Of course not," Tony said. " _We_ want to help _you_ take that thing down."

"Tony, that thing had him put to sleep for a reason," Steve pointed out.

"Yeah, and _we_ have him with us right now for a reason," Tony stated.

"If this was any cause, I would rather set this one out," Thor said.

"We've got to lure that thing away from the citizens," Rhodey spoke.

"Right," Tony said, his suit powering up. "And how do we do that?"

"Can't we just fight it?" Sam asked.

"Hold on," Steve said. "We need a plan of attack before we engage it."

"I have a plan," Tony said as he opened the hatch. "Attack." Then he flew out.

"Does that thing keep him safe?" John asked in wonder.

"You wouldn't believe it for a second," Clint said.

Tony came back. "You coming?"

"On it," Sam said as he activated the wings from his jet pack and flew with Tony.

"Natasha, we're going to need pickup," Steve sighed.

"Copy that," she replied.

John looked between the hatch and the monster before walking over to Steve as he put on a parachute. "Is there a way to get down there?"

Steve looked up at him. He seemed to study him before asking, "Are you sure?"

"No," John said. "But…" He paused for a second, trying to find the words. "I guess I have to learn sometime soon."

* * *

A scream brought her eyes up and she looked out the window to see a giant creature she had never seen before around the corner, causing her to gasp.

"What is that?" the boy asked in confusion.

"I-I don't know," Amy stammered.

"Everybody down!" someone shouted. The passengers crouched low to the floor, fearing for their lives. The monster approached the train. With incredible speed, it raised a forelimb and slammed it into the ground, sending a shockwave and cutting the power. The resulting force caused everyone to scream and some of them started to cry. Amy looked up and saw the monster coming closer. The boy clung onto her tightly as it loomed over them and opened its mouth.

Something collided with the monster, forcing it to cry out in pain. Everyone cheered when they realized that it was Iron Man as he flew at the mosnter and peppered it with his repulsors and missiles, War Machine backing him up. A man with wings flew by, hitting it with all he had.

"Who is that?" a woman asked.

"A new member maybe?" someone guessed.

The monster cried out as it felt its wings singed by intense heat. Tony, Rhodey and Sam peppered the wing membrane with missiles and bullets while Mjolnir made contact with its cheek. The giant beast felt its anger now being directed to the humans. The monster reared a forelimb back and swatted at the flyers. A grenade in the side of its face got the monster's attention. The quinjet Natasha was piloting whizzed past the giant creature, with Clint aiming an explosive arrow at it. It scuttled after the quinjet, but stopped when Tony and Sam peppered its face with gunfire.

Steve and John were forced onto the train, trying to get it to start up again. They would make sure that if it didn't start back up, they would as least the get citizens out of it and into a coming transport.

"John, come on," Steve called as he started to look for the backup systems.

John followed him, still unsure if he made the right choice. Steve stopped, cursing under his breath. "What's wrong?"

"That suppression field still kicking?" Steve asked through the radio.

"Yeah," Natasha replied. "But you should be able to get the power back on any time now…"

John swore he felt a light breeze on his neck. He looked around, but he couldn't feel any wind currents coming at him. Curious, he looked around to find the source of it when he caught light blue mist flowing in front of him before it disappeared. Where did it come from?

"Clint, how's it going on your end?" Steve asked.

"This thing's not going to go down so easily," Clint answered. "It's putting up one hell of a fight."

"This thing won't die so easily either," Steve whispered.

" _Um, guys?"_ Bruce spoke over the communications. _"Someone took that opportunity to rob the train."_

John stared at the creature and the others fighting. As he edged closer to the side he could see that they were locked tightly into battle with it. When he noticed they were making futile attempts to distance the battle away, he stood still. How were they going to lure something this huge away? He wished he actually had some information on this beast before he found himself trapped and awakened in this time, he couldn't seem to form a thought in his head. So John did the first thing he could remember and think of. He whipped out his only pistol and fired two warning signals into the air.

The sound of gunfire was covered by the passengers screams and the monster roaring. Immediately the team broke apart and flew away. And before John knew what was happening, he watched as it turned, spread its wings out, and took to the skies.

"John, the monster was right there," Steve commented.

"That was supposed to scare it off."

"Oh. Well, good thinking then."

The train jolted, forcing them to fall backwards. Everyone inside cheered as the train got moving again, but they all ducked as the monster flew over them. Both men stood up and prepared to run down the trans. Before they could make another car, they were held at gunpoint by a man in black. On instinct, John threw his hands up. "Going somewhere?"

"Yes," Steve answered.

"No," John said, shaking his head.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No, we are not."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!"

"Shut up!" the man shouted.

John's eyes reverted to an object behind the man's shoulder. He realized it was either Tony or Rhodes coming towards them at an alarming speed and _—_ thank God he met Tonto _—_ that gave him an idea. "Yes."

Steve looked at him in confusion. John handed Steve the ends of his rope. Before the captian could figure out what was going on, Iron Man's hands snagged John's end and pulled him up.

"Enjoy the ride!" the ranger said as he was hauled off. Steve squawked as he followed, his foot catching the burglar's chin and forcing him onto the ground, knocking his gun out of his hand.

"Cap, incoming," Tony said.

"I think I got the message," Steve confirmed as they were carried off.

* * *

It did not take long for the train to get away from where the battle took place. He stepped in deeper into the parts of Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge. The creature had fled at the gunshot – an unwise move on the newcomer's behalf – and took refuge here in the park. A clever, if not a cliché move.

He limped to where the creature took shelter in. He saw it hiding in the foliage, its mandibles tending to its wounds and its body hunched in pain. It looked up at his approach and bowed its head.

"You need to learn to strategize," he scolded. "Your size and strength won't save your life."

The monster groaned, its gaze dropping to the ground.

"That's enough for the day anyways," he said. "The next time they face us, they won't get away unharmed next time."


	6. One Day More

6\. One Day More

Despite his fears and everything that he found out in the previous day, despite all of the things he had lost and witnessed, John had agreed to stay at the Avengers Tower with the team. He was so exhausted by the time they got there that he had collapsed into the same bed he had awaken in and fell asleep almost immediately. When the sun rose in the morning and its rays landed on his face through the window, he felt the warmth it gave off gently pulling him out of his slumber. Without opening his eyes he reached out and stretched his arms, enjoying the feel of his clothes as they slid between the satin sheets.

Realizing what was happening, John's eyes shot open and he sat up in his bed with a start. He had no idea where he was at. The past events began to flood his mind as he looked out at the window. It wasn't a dream like he had hoped for it to be when he awaken. How would he survive a time he wasn't familiar with?

John rubbed his eyes in desperate attempt to clear his mind. He needed to figure out exactly what he was going to do now. The first thing he wanted to know is what would become of him in the present, and why he had been kept asleep for all of those years. Was it the creature's cause for him? Had it been some sort of ill luck that befell on him and Tonto?

Tonto! What had become of him? Did the monster do any sort of evil act on his friend, his ally, his companion? He was delusional and queer, but John understood him more than anyone else did. That included the elders of the tribe and their men, who were subjugated by Custer and his army.

John covered his face, closed his eyes, and just breathed in a final attempt to keep himself together and remain strong. But could he be strong? He used to think he was, yet he was in law school, not in the west. He had grown up hearing stories of the west and how he wanted that when he returned from his studies, yet now he was yearning for someplace to _belong_.

He felt once more defeated in useless, but this time he was quick to scold himself. He had enough! It was time for him to remember who he was, and that John Reid was better than this! He had to show the strange new world what he was made of, that he was able to overcome its adversity…even if he didn't believe it at first.

He groaned inwardly at the thought of a new thing: the Avengers! How would he be able to cooperate with them in a mess of a family? Guilt racked his mind. For the first time since last night he took a moment to think of them and what they had done for him. At first he had been afraid, learning that he had awaken in a new time of foreign machinery and society. Still, they had been the ones who had freed him from that stone prison, and yet his first instinct was to run away. He was confused, but could they forgive him for his reckless actions? Even after they had found him, they weren't in any way immodest towards him, not a sign of wickedness or pure selfishness. If John had thought about it, however, they could have shown their true colors at any moment, but most certainly when he was unconscious. Perhaps God had not completely abandoned him after all.

When he had turned around, he found fresh clothing on the chair by the door. Once he made his way towards the furniture, he raised a brow when his fingers made contact at the textures. Whoever owned these had some taste. He quickly shed his clothes and slipped the shirt and slacks. As he did his best to adjust the articles on himself, he thought of the strangers again. How did they come across him again? From the looks of the situation last night, it seemed as if the creature _did_ have something to do with him. And even if he was unprepared to face them now, John knew he needed to seek them out, for surely they might have a plan or two.

"Damn!" he heard himself say out loud in realization as a thought suddenly struck him. He remembered now _—_ the last thing he had remembered before his rude awakening was the monster itself! How had he not recognized it at first sight! He needed to figure out what was going on, and fast before they catch on.

John felt his stomach rumble, and he clutched his abdomen. Not wanting to continue this mystery, he knew he had to face the music and meet them face to face once more. So he decided to leave his room, find one with food, and perhaps try to put together his puzzle he found jumbled.

As he exit his room, he made his way down the hall and then into an open room. One side of the wall to the left had glass windows that overlooked the city. On the furniture sat Steven, Natasha, Rhodes, and Clint, chatting away and eating.

"Look who rose from the dead," Sam's voice rang from the other side of the room. All of the other patrons looked over as John shyly walked in.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty!"

John jumped and turned around with a fist ready, forcing Tony to duck. The older man scowled as he turned on his heel and marched off to the counter, where he noticed something brewing from a pot by the box shaped object.

"I hope Bruce hacked into every system he could think of," Tony prayed. "I'm really starting to get sick of battling things that I hardly know of. And did you see how it took all of those trees down at once?"

"Man, my grandmother never complained this much when she was put into a nursing home," Sam conveyed in irritation.

"Either she had a good life or she's mute then," Tony said.

"Excuse me, I'll be happy to inform you that she was a badass who never whined for once in her life," Sam told im.

"Hey, wait a minute now," John said. "Let's not start another fight. I think two in one night is enough, don't you think?"

"Good," Tony said. "Then we'll start today with finding you a girlfriend."

"Wait a minute _—_ what now?"

"Tony, that's a little too soon," Steve spoke.

"Oh, don't think I haven't forgotten about you either," Tony said. Natasha snorted.

"Good luck. I've tried, but Steve here is too stubborn for that."

"What about you, Clint? Got anyone special?" Rhodes asked, turning to the archer in hopes of making sure an actual fight didn't break out between them.

"Oh, you know. I get around here and there," Clint coughed.

John made sure they were engrossed in conversation before he quietly checked the drawers for the object he needed right now. Upon finding he made a shallow slice across his palm, letting it seep out before he rubbed his hands together. He had heard Tonto mumbled something about it before, something about it affecting the monster. This would surely give some effect somehow, he thought to himself.

"Good morning my _— what are you doing?"_

 _Everyone turned suddenly to see Thor standing in the doorway of the hall, his eyes and mouth opened. Following his gaze they saw John and noticed the blood on his hands._

 _"You're bleeding!" Steve exclaimed as he rushed up, turning the faucet on as Natasha grabbed John's arm._

 _"How did you manage to cut yourself?" she asked. She looked at the blade on the counter and the realization suddenly hit her that it had been done intentionally. "Why…?"_

 _John groaned inwardly. What was he supposed to say? This was what he got for listening to Tonto's old wives' tales. He decided not to say anything and hoped that they would drop the question. His luck ran out as Thor's eyes swept over the palms and then back to his face with a look of pure amusement. John felt like he had been screwed over._

 _"Oh, my god," Rhodes grumbled, covering his eyes as he realized what the ranger was doing._

 _Yeah, he was definitely screwed._

 _"I'm missing something here," Tony spoke._

 _"Yeah, what's going on?" Sam asked._

 _"It's…it's just some jargon that an old friend told me," John tried to explain._

 _"Not quite," Thor pointed out. "When a creature such as the one we encountered last night ensnares a mortal, it is a sign of disrespect to local spirits if the sacrifice isn't properly…taken care of. And if I know my knowledge of this land's lore that well, and I think that I do, they would want proof of the capture. Marking yourself with your own blood would only drive off the enchantment because of…well, that part I never quite got the chance to read."_

 _"What the hell are we dealing with?" Steve asked._

 _"That's what we're trying to figure out," Natasha said._ She headed to the table by the wall to retrieve the medical kit used the night before. Steve took his hands and placed them under the running water. It stung his hand, but it seemed to soothe it at the same time. He hoped they wouldn't tease him about this for the rest of the day.

Natasha came over and John hesitantly offered his hand out towards her. He looked at the group around him, either watching or whispering to one another, Steve and Tony in particular. They could make him feel uncomfortable yet welcomed; he knew that as sure as the sun would rise tomorrow morning. But they could hurt him if he let them. To remain secure he had to keep himself in check. The question was: did he want to remain hidden? What had that gotten him? Years of some solitude and a quirky companion, and it wearing on him! Perhaps this whole Sleeping Beauty syndrome was a sign that he had to move pass that life and start anew?

"Hey, Cinderella!" Natasha snapped her fingers in front of his face, drawing him out of his thoughts. "I'm all done."

John looked down and saw that she was indeed finished with her work on his hand. Natasha took her time putting the box away as he rubbed the bandages around his hands.

That was when Bruce walked into the room.

"Oh, good," Tony said. "You're here. Tell me you've found something, like, anything."

Bruce seemed very quiet when Tony asked that. No one needed to ask Bruce again; they knew he had found nothing. Still, it didn't stop him from saying, "Um, I found something."

"Are you just saying that to make me happy? Or are you just trying to be a wisecracker?" Tony questioned. "And it better be the last one."

"Okay, now you're just trying to trap me here," Bruce said.

John smiled and shook his hand. Cradling his hand, he glanced at the ceiling-to-floor window and wondered over to it. He cautiously peered down at the world below him. He saw small colorful machines pass on the roads paved with tar and more enormous buildings that spread out before the tower. While captivated by how much New York City had changed over the years, being roughly half of two million people at the time, the sight before him made him feel queasy. Thor seemed to see his concerns and he came over to join him.

"Yes, you will see some strange and new sights before you," the Norse god told him. "If you wish to see the new world, I am sure we wouldn't mind taking you out for a tour." He looked to the others for approval. He knew what it was like himself when he was banished to Earth and from he learned from Steve, it was pretty scary.

"Yeah," John sighed. "Maybe it would be good."

"Okay, no one else is talking about the main issue," Natasha spoke suddenly. "I have a question: what's with the mask?"

John stiffened in his place. Everyone had been a bit into that topic last night during the fiasco. While he liked to keep some things personal, he knew they could not continue without at least addressing the issue. Perhaps if he had brought up the story he could guide this investigation in a manner that would offer him at least an amount of comfort and preserve him a shred of dignity.

"Nat!" Steve groaned. "I'm sorry about that. I wouldn't let them pry into personal affairs so quickly."

"It's okay, sir," John replied. "I've been asked that question a lot. I wear it for valid reasons." A puckish grin appeared on his face and instantly Steve knew what was coming. "I originally returned from the other side with no face. Those who look into the empty voice have their souls consumed, so I wear it to protect them unless they were evil."

Suddenly Natasha felt disturbed and Clint looked terrified. Thor laughed and Steve had to cover his mouth at Tony's face. Sam looked like he wasn't sure whether to believe it or not. Rhodes rolled his eyes.

"I-is it true?" Bruce asked.

"No, it's not true," Rhodes lambasted. "Otherwise he wouldn't have to take it off last night."

They never got the chance to dig deeper into the topic when the elevator doors opened up. They all turned around and the Avengers froze when they saw Maria Hill step out. A finger pointing at Tony, she stormed up to him. "You! If I get one more of those 'special calls' ever again when you're gone and you have your phone off I will tear your head off, bury you alive, and dance on your grave!"

Thor looked completely clueless. "What?"

That was when Maria noticed John in the room. "Who is this?"

John lowered his eyes, not wanting to meet her gaze.

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting you this early," Tony said.

"I swear if it's a death wish you want, you're on your way to seeing it fulfilled," Maria snarled.

"What did I do?" Tony asked. Usually he did know, but this time he wasn't so sure _what_ she was talking about.

"Mr. Leroy's been in your office all morning and you've yet to make an appearance. And here it is _—_ almost a quarter past ten!" Maria told him, looking at her watch and scowling deeper.

"What does he want me for? Don't tell me he has more ridiculous revisions for his company?"

"I know you could care less what he wants, but it may not be your company or your life that's at stake here." Maria thought that would get a reaction out of Stark, and she was right."

"What?" Tony was standing straight. "I fail to make contact and suddenly he's breathing out threats? And everyone says that I'm…" He didn't look so happy as he was minutes ago.

"Maria, can you stall him for another few minutes?" Bruce requested as he put a hand on Tony's shoulder. "We'll get him to calm down and have him ready before you can say 'electrons,' okay?"

Maria pursed her lip to the side. She made a sideways glance towards the newest addition to their group. She still wanted to know who this stranger was, but right now they had more important matters on their hands. "Okay then, but be quick about it. I don't know how far his patience runs." She turned on her heel and headed for the elevator.

"What was that all about?" John asked as soon as the doors were closed.

"Business," Tony grumbled. "I'll see you all at four."

"Guess or a fact?" Bruce said.

"Who cares? I hate this guy's guts," Tony said as he stormed towards the lift.

Once more when he was gone, John turned to the others. "What sort of business does he run?"

Rhodes, as if sensing the uneasiness in his voice, explained, "Stark Industries is an industrial company. Originally it produced weapons and equipment for the army, but Tony stopped producing them after his…accident that made him become Iron Man. Otherwise, the rest of the story is up to him to tell."

"And knowing this Leroy person, he's not the most cooperative person to work with," Bruce added.

"Why say that?" Clint asked.

"He's not the by-the-book person, and he's impractical," Natasha answered.

"That's because his dad isn't really a kind of guy that knows how to handle the field work well," Sam commented.

"Well, neither was Howard until America went to war in the forties," Steve said.

"I thought you said it was during an expo in your old days," Thor spoke.

To John, this was insane! Not only speaking of pop culture that was out of his reach, but also hearing how much industries and businesses have changed over the course of the years. It impressed him, really, and he was sure that it may sound easy to see how the new world works, but it would be difficult once he sees how it's done once he's behind the wheel.

He looked to the others like a man on mission. He really wanted to inquire such knowledge of the new life he was about to get a taste of, but he couldn't project his voice. However, he felt a determination rising at the thought the stress Tony was going through right now. He would not cower from this! If the world wanted him to put on a show he would give it one! This would be the performance of a lifetime, even if he wasn't one. And right now he needed all his wits about him.

* * *

Research was never her forte, but Amy was determined to get some answers from last night. Unfortunately, she closed out of the browser from her laptop once her roommate came into the room. She grabbed her backpack and headed out the door, but she almost bumped into Jessica.

"Whoa, girl with a major job interview coming up," Jessica said, holding her books close to her. "Where are your eyes this morning?"

"Where they should be," Amy answered. "It's my mind that's decided to take a vacation. And I don't remember a time where you wanted a job so seriously like your life depended on it."

"It does when Mr. Svoboda threatens to make you find a new apartment," Jessica stated. "Seriously, what's got your shorts in a knot?"

"Nothing's wrong," Amy answered casually. "I'm quite fine."

"You haven't gone to see Brennon for a while. I was just wondering if you were handling things okay right now. What were you doing this morning?"

"Just looking for a new job."

"You could still get a scholarship from Stark Industries."

"I can't afford it."

"I can get my dad to help."

"Jess, you're already doing too much," Amy remarked. Not wanting to entertain the conversation any further, she headed out of the door.

Jessica was left staring at the door Amy went out of, feeling as if something was bothering her, something she wasn't willing to share. With a sigh, she sat down where her friend had previously been on her bed. Absentmindedly, she looked to Amy's laptop that had been abandoned.

"No, Jess," she thought. "You have to trust Amy. She's not looking for trouble, it finds her."

But she was unable to convince herself. Tugging the laptop onto her lip, Jessica opened it and watched as the screen immediately lit up, almost glaring at her. "Amy's got no one else to look out for her right now," she told herself. "I'm doing this as a concerned friend."

Grabbing the wireless mouse, Jessica brought up the program and opened up the browser history to see what websites she had been to recently. The young woman was aware that she was potentially interfering with her friend's privacy by doing this, but she told herself that she would not judge her for anything she found, if there was anything. She was worried about Amy, and given how she had been so quick to leave, she felt she was right to be suspicious.

She furrowed her brows as she red the first few websites Amy had been to and the Google search she had been doing: _dragons in north american culture_.

"Amy, what have you been doing lately?"


	7. Shopping Spree

**So, you want an explanation as to why another chapter for this bad boy hadn't been put up yet? Well, you don't get one, because as a human I have work and other things in life I needed to attend to. Plus, I have been concentrating on an original story I'm struggling to write down. Hopefully this chapter will put you in a better mood today. Enjoy!**

7\. Shopping Spree

"What is this?" John stared at the three circular meals that were set on the table. He had seen the cuisine the Commanche, Mexicans and the Asians ate many times, but that was nothing compared to what he saw before him.

"It's pizza." Natasha offered him a slice. "Try it."

John took the napkin the slice was one. Upon staring at it, he put it in his mouth and took a bite of it. The sauce was hot, but the melted cheese and the heated flatbread mixed with it made it tasty. "Not bad."

Tony gawked at him. "Not bad?"

"Tony," Bruce warned.

"I'm sorry," John said, feigning regret. "I'm sorry, you're right; it's _electrifying_."

"That's more like it," Tony said, earning a glare from the ranger.

Clint choked on his drink suddenly, some of it spitting out from his mouth and nose.

"Clint!" Steve cried.

"Don't worry. I'll fix it!" Thor exclaimed.

He clapped Clint hard on the back and he ended up face first in his pizza. John stopped in mid-chew, afraid what he was going to do. Tony howled with laughter as Clint came up, blue eyes murderous as they fixed on the Norse God.

"Thor, start running," Sam warned.

"Clint, be nice," Steve scolded.

"He hit me," Clint growled.

"I saved you," Thor disagreed.

"Is it always like this?" John asked Rhodes.

The colonal smiled and shook his head. "Nah, just every other Tuesday."

"Which reminds me," Natasha started. "We're going to have to get you guys new clothes."

"What's that?" John wondered.

"It's this thing we do these days by going out in public to stores and buy stuff," Natasha explained. She glared at Tony. "We should probably check you out for clothing as well."

The rich philanthropist did not seem happy. "Ah, hell no!" he exclaimed. "Forget it! There's no damn way I'm going to any of those minor stores. No way, no how!"

* * *

"How good do I look in this?"

Steve looked up from his book and studied Tony. After ten minutes of chasing him, Sam had decided to knock him out and they had to get him onto the bus. To his utter surprise, Tony finally decided that shopping for clothes in the smaller department stores wasn't a bad idea. Too bad it was at the Mall of America, all the way into the Midwest

Of course, he didn't really until Natasha decided to pick this outfit for him. He was wearing dark blue jeans with a black belt, a white buttoned up shirt, a thick black coat, black cowboy boots, and dark aviators — Where on Earth did he find them?

"You're quite a character," was all that Steve said.

Tony just rolled his eyes before Thor came out, arms folded as he revealed himself to be wearing a black shirt and pants. "What is with you guys and black?" he wondered.

"Can't help it," Thor said with a shrug. "Besides, I look good in this."

Steve's eyes darted between the two. Were they both vain or was it all his imagination? He decided from then on that he was not letting both of them hang out with each other and make sure Bruce had his time with Tony limited. Because hey, one self-conceited man was enough.

Meanwhile, John had carefully been looking for something that fit his likes. There was too many things to choose from. He frowned and wrinkled his nose as he saw a sleazy looking top that he didn't know men wore. He pulled out a blue flannel shirt and immediately took a liking to it. The fabric seemed thin, but he could find a white shirt to wear underneath it. He turned to Bruce to ask if there was any other store to try out, but stopped when he saw that Bruce already picked out three different shirts.

"That's actually a good shirt," Bruce said. "At least your taste is better than Tony's when he first dragged me shopping for clothes."

"Yeah, why did he drag us all the way to Minnesota to do that?" John asked.

Bruce shrugged. "I don't know. I guess he was being adventurous. He's kind of a strange guy, but he's okay once you get to know him."

"Really?" John challenged. "How so?"

Bruce opened and closed his mouth, trying to find the words. He couldn't quite seem to formulate them, until he called John's bluff. "All right, that's not fair. I know the guy for two years and you know him for almost two days now."

Natasha joined them, already having her items picked out. "Who knew that shopping in America's biggest mall would be fun? I love this freakin' state!"

"Oh no," Bruce said. "She's got the Minnesota fever."

"The what?"

"Minnesota fever. It's when you come to this state and all of the sudden, it gets to you."

"That doesn't sound that bad."

"Not unless you're Stark, then you have the right to be worried."

"Can we help you?" The group looked up to find two people, a man and a woman at a younger age, standing nearby.

"No, we're fine," the doctor answered.

The girl studied John's current outfit. "Wow, you must really like blue."

Natasha glared at her.

"Blue serves as a memory for a friend of mine that passed on years ago," John told her. He almost bit his lip. He had no idea where that came from, but he had to get something out. But now, the more he thought about it, the more he thought of Tonto. And right now, it just made him ache.

No, he reminded himself. Now was not the time to feel miserable again. He needed to face this time. Once they returned to the tower, then he'll go over his thoughts and feelings to surmise what he'll do.

"Oh." She looked ashamed. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," John said. "I'm sure he's in a better place."

Bruce sighed in relief. Natasha was surprised at how calm John was being towards the people of the modern era, considering that he was a man misplaced in time and the attitude the people had these days were more harsh towards the other than they were back then. Must have been from years of trying to learn how to keep his cool.

"He was a good person," John said softly with a bit of woe in his eyes.

"Sad to hear that," the guy said. "Where are you from, anyways? You don't sound like you're from around here."

"I am from..." He paused. "Brooklyn."

"You don't sound you're from there either," the guy said. "I swear that if you were gay, you'd remind me of that stuff they call hentai madness."

John was shocked at the accusation as the guy's girlfriend grew mortified. Natasha narrowed her eyes, ready to defend the man, but what Bruce said next made things worse.

"And you would know Japanese porn how?"

The man flinched, and the place seemed to have grown dark as the girl slowly turned to glare at him.

"Yeah, Carl," she said. "You would know _how_?"

The man's mouth stuttered, trying to explain himself.

"I didn't think you would know all of that stuff yourself, Bruce," Natasha said in amusement.

Bruce's face turned a bright shade of red. The girl rolled his eyes as the man grinned. "We'll be going now," she said, dragging Carl with her.

Bruce was still flustered as Sam approached them. He stopped when he noticed the doctor's face. "What did I miss?"

John groaned and covered his eyes with the palm of his hand.

"Yeah, we all feel like that after spending some time with Tony," a woman said from beside him.

John jumped, feeling for the pistol that was not on his belt where it always was at. A woman in semi-formal clothing stood in front of him. She was pretty, had natural beauty to her. Long, straight strawberry-blonde hair brushed back to reach her shoulder blades. She was smiling while holding out her right hand.

"I'm Virginia Potts. If Tony said he was introducing you to 'Pepper' that's me. You must be John."

"How did you manage to sneak up on me?" John asked without thought. He looked down at her feet. "And with shoes like that?"

"Says every person who meets her for the first time," Bruce said in his ear.

Pepper nodded. "Yeah, I get that a lot with the people Tony meets. Steve was actually the first one."

John glanced at the direction where the others were at. He noticed that both men brought up were in a deep discussion, Steve not looking too happy. He wondered what it was that made the captain upset. That was when he noticed the third man, a man that he hadn't seen quite yet.

"Okay, we gotta hurry it up," Sam said. "Tony's not really this patient with us and we really need to get out of here before I decide to wring his neck myself."

"I thought that these would be fine." John gestured to the four shirts and three pairs of jeans.

Pepper glanced at the clothes. "They probably would be if you weren't staying with Tony. Knowing him, he'll be dragging you to an event or two."

John frowned at this. The last events he had been to never quite ended well with him. Well, no, he still had some fun in them. The first one he recalled involved his first encounter with Tonto. Then there was the whole chase on the train chocked full of silver. Everything else that followed had been filled with awkwardness and oddity and the last thing he remembered before waking up again…Damn, why couldn't he remember?

The man that was talking to Tony came over and offered his hand. "Hello. You're John, right? I'm Happy, or Hogan. You can call me whichever you want."

John shook the man's hand, "Yeah, that's me. Nice to meet you."

"You as well," Happy said with a smile.

"Hey, if you want my honest opinion," Sam said, "don't let Tony pick out your clothes. He might have taste in music, but not in fashion that much."

After some time had slipped by, Steve and Natasha helped slip him safely from the group to get away from the others. They continued from their to venture from store to store. John found a lot more than what he could at them, but he personally loved the one store where it had a western feel in the articles. Now this had a fresh feel, he thought to himself many times.

He quickly chose a few shirts and three pairs of jeans. He smiled, knowing now that he seemed satisfied with what he had found. He didn't have to wear those ridiculous clothes with the strange images now! He turned to Natasha. "Are we done now?"

Natasha bit her lip. Behind her, Steve was trying to stifle a laugh.

"What?" John asked. "What's so funny?"

"Yeah, should have told you," Natasha said. "We're going to have to get you measurements for a suit because, like Pepper said, Tony will be dragging you to an event or two."

John stared. He didn't mind getting a suit before, but he rarely went to any sort of fancy event. What events could he possibly be going to that he needed one to begin with? He should have thought of that. Why did he have to get caught up in this?

He quickly chose a black suit, one with a nice smooth and black cloth that had a high thread count. A store helper quickly herded him towards that back and told him to stand still. Moments later, he came out. John was practically dragging his feet with his hands shoved in his pockets, eyes glued to the ground and his face turning red, mumbling how he was going to get Tony. Steve had to turn away and cover his mouth to muffle his laughter.

"Oh, come on," Natasha grinned. "It wasn't that bad."

"Then why do I feel violated?" John grumbled through gritted teeth.

"Come on," Natasha said, grabbing him by the arm. "I know you'll feel better once we really hit the rest of the place."

"I highly doubt it," John said. One thought went through his head on a repeat, but he pushed it aside and ran to catch up to the group.

* * *

Officers of HYDRA didn't expect the monster and its master to return in such a short notice. They didn't see them coming until something landed heavily behind them. They turned around and watched the monster's rider dismount from its back. They stared at him.

"Where is he?"

The officers all looked amongst themselves, "Same place as always sir. In the main hanger."

The rider gave out a sigh. "Of course he is. Well then, I'll be on my way."

The officers stood there shocked as he marched past them. In fact, many where pretty sure the man was _bonkers_!

At least, that's what he had to tell himself when he entered the hanger. The entire room was dimly lit with dying florescent lights, that occasionally flickered out. This left the room shrouded in an eerie and unsettling darkness, as well as making it hard to see more than three feet in any direction. The floors and walls where a dull rust color, and the entire room had a coppery smell to it. He knew for a fact that the smell was not copper.

The young man shook his head to clear his nose and continued onward to the commander's work station. It was set in a corner with a set of computers scattered. And the artist himself stood nearby, mumbling to himself as he stroked lightly across the canvas with black paint as his subject stood in the shadows near the window. He inwardly let out a sigh of relief.

"Sir," he spoke when he stood next to the artist.

The man straightened up. He turned around to find him standing straight, his face hidden by the shadows. "Have you gotten his location?"

Chills ran through every fiber in his body at the voice. "Yes, sir." He glared at him head on. "May I ask you to remind me why we are doing this again? Surely the time has yet come."

"It doesn't have to. _You_ just want it too," the commander snarled. "We don't need to rush."

He narrowed his eyes in that general direction. "What comes next?" he questioned. "We already know that he still lives; what else do you have in you playbook?"

"You Americans, all the same. He's more than a reservation. Our next target is within the vaults of S.H.I.E.L.D."

His eyes felt like they had widened.

"Always plan carefully, dear Danny Boy, and everything comes together. Have your pet send out a signal to attract the nearest base. The boys will need to bring it back as soon as possible."

"Yeah, one other thing," he asked. "What if it decides to go rogue on us?"

"Easy." The commander pulled out a small device from hisi coat. "There's a bomb that's planted at the base of its head. All I have to do is press this little button here and our problems will go away."

"Does it know about that?"

"It doesn't need to. It's going to do what I want out of loyalty, not fear. But, unfortunately, even love seldom lasts forever."

The young man couldn't concur, but he couldn't disagree either. He turned on his heel and began to walk away.

"Oh, one more thing."

The boy stopped and turned around. The lights came on, revealing the commander in pure light.

"How does it look?"

He looked over to the painting. The artist nervously waited for an answer, afraid of what he would say.

"It's better than the ones from the Renaissance." With that he was gone to attend to his pet.

He walked into the room that contained the creature. He approached it, it's beady red eyes glancing in his direction at the sound of his footfalls. Approaching the animal, he reached out and tenderly caressed its jawline. It purred in confirmation of its great fear.

"Soon, Arian," he whispered. "Soon, we'll be able to get rid of the Avengers and Uncle John." He reached up to the back of its head, hoping to find the bomb. "First thing's first…"


End file.
